• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제28권11호
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• pp.1219-1223
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• 2005

6-[2-(Benzoxazol-2-ylmethylamino)ethoxy]-1-alkyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acids were designed and synthesized as $\beta$-amyloid (A$\beta$) fibril assembly inhibitors. Their inhibitory activity on A$\beta$, aggregation was evaluated by thioflavin T assay although their activities were insignificant.

• 한국응용약물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국응용약물학회 2006년도 Spring Conference
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• pp.123-135
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• 2006

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the aging population and is clinically characterized by a progressive loss of cognitive abilities. Pathologically, it is defined by the appearance of senile plaques - extracellular insoluble, congophilic protein aggregates composed of amyloid $\beta$ (A$\beta$) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) - inyracellular lesions consisting of paired helical filaments from hyperphosphorylated cytoskeletal tau protein as described by Alois Alzheimer a century ago. These hallmarks still serve as the major criteria for a definite diagnosis of the disease. Consequently, one of the key strategy for drug development in this disease area focuses on reducing the concentration of cerebral A$\beta$ plaque by using substances that inhibit A$\beta$ fibril formation. We focused on developing inhibitors by synthesizing several kinds of aromatic molecules. The synthetic compounds were initially screened to evaluate the effective compound by tioflavin T fluorescence assay. The selected effective compounds were tested cytotoxicity and protective effect from A$\beta$-induced neuronal toxicity by cell based MTT assay with HT22 hippocampal neurons. The BBB permeability on effectors was also tested in in vitro co-culture model(HUVEC/C6 cell line). The behavior test wea carried out in mutant APP/PS1 transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. And inhibition of A$\beta$ fibril formation by the effective compound was monitored with transmitted electron microscopic images.

• EDISON SW 활용 경진대회 논문집
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• 제5회(2016년)
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

$A{\beta}_{40}$ peptides form oligomers that later aggregate into a plaque, which is deemed to be a leading cause of Alzheimer's Disease. Its non-crystalline morphology has limited an understanding of comprehensive structural study. In this research, computational biomolecular simulations were performed in the following order: solvent and ion addition in a box, energy minimization of protein, equilibration, and periodic boundary condition disaggregation of a monomer from fibril. The result founded the two-fold model is 25% more stable in the simulation environment, and the steric zippers held on most tightly until 220 ps of simulation. The study supports the previous findings that two-fold aggregate $A{\beta}_{40}$ is more stable at 310 K and discusses further how much contribution steric-zipper and hydrogen bonding are making.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제28권12호
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• pp.2283-2287
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• 2007

Amyloid fibril formation of amyloid β/A4 protein (Aβ) is critical to understand the pathological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease and develop controlling strategy toward the neurodegenerative disease. For this purpose, dequalinium (DQ) has been employed as a specific modifier for Aβ aggregation and its subsequent cytotoxicity. In the presence of DQ, the final thioflavin-T binding fluorescence of Aβ aggregates decreased significantly. It was the altered morphology of Aβ aggregates in a form of the bundles of the fibrils, distinctive from normal single-stranded amyloid fibrils, and the resulting reduced β-sheet content that were responsible for the decreased fluorescence. The morphological transition of Aβ aggregates assessed with atomic force microscope indicated that the bundle structure observed with DQ appeared to be resulted from the initial multimeric seed structure rather than lateral association of preformed single-stranded fibrils. Investigation of the seeding effect of the DQ-induced Aβ aggregates clearly demonstrated that the seed structure has determined the final morphology of Aβ aggregates as well as the aggregative kinetics by shortening the lag phase. In addition, the cytotoxicity was also varied depending on the final morphology of the aggregates. Taken together, DQ has been considered to be a useful chemical probe to control the cytotoxicity of the amyloid fibrils by influencing the seed structures which turned out to be central to develop therapeutic strategy by inducing the amyloid fibrils in different shapes with varied toxicities.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제33권11호
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• pp.3671-3675
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• 2012

${\beta}$-Amyloid accumulation in the brain is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Since early detection of ${\beta}$-amyloid may facilitate more successful and timely therapeutic interventions, many investigators have focused on developing AD diagnostic reagents that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Oleanolic acid (OA) is a substance found in a variety of plants that has been reported to prevent the progression of AD in mice. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated a new radioligand in which OA was conjugated to lactoferrin (Lf, an iron-binding glycoprotein that crosses the BBB) for the diagnosis of AD. In an in vitro study in which OA-Lf was incubated with ${\beta}$-amyloid (1-42) aggregates for 24 h, we found that OA-Lf effectively inhibited ${\beta}$-amyloid aggregation and fibril formation. In vivo studies demonstrated that $^{123}I$-OA-Lf brain uptake was higher than$^{123}I$-Lf uptake. Therefore, radiolabeled OA-Lf may have diagnostic potential for ${\beta}$-amyloid imaging.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제30권12호
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• pp.3006-3010
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• 2009

We have performed long time REMD simulation on 15-19 residues of human calcitonin hormone (DFNKF) which is known to form highly ordered amyloid fibril. The simulation started from randomly oriented multiple DFNKF strand. Using all-atom level simulations with the generalized Born solvation (GB) model (param99MOD3), we observed spontaneous formation of ${\beta}$-sheet for tetramer. Interestingly, the current simulation gives anti-parallel sheet as a major conformation, consistent with experiments. The major interaction stabilizing the anti-parallel sheet seems to be the inter-strand hydrogen bond.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제29권8호
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• pp.1505-1509
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• 2008

Comparative molecular simulations were performed to establish molecular interaction and inhibitory effect of flavonoid myricetin on formation of amyloid fibris. For computational comparison, the conformational stability of myricetin with amyloid $\beta$ -peptide (A$\beta$ ) and $\beta$ -amyloid fibrils (fA$\beta$) were traced with multiple molecular dynamics simulations (MD) using the CHARMM program from Monte Carlo docked structures. Simulations showed that the inhibition by myricetin involves binding of the flavonoid to fA$\beta$ rather than A$\beta$ . Even in MD simulations over 5 ns at 300 K, myricetin/fA$\beta$ complex remained stable in compact conformation for multiple trajectories. In contrast, myricetin/A$\beta$ complex mostly turned into the dissociated conformation during the MD simulations at 300 K. These multiple MD simulations provide a theoretical basis for the higher inhibitory effect of myricetin on fibrillogenesis of fA$\beta$ relative to A$\beta$ . Significant binding between myricetin and fA$\beta$ observed from the computational simulations clearly reflects the previous experimental results in which only fA$\beta$ had bound to the myricetin molecules.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제19권9호
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• pp.960-965
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• 2009

${\beta}2$-Microglobulin (${\beta}2m$) is known to be a major factor for dialysis-related amyloidosis. We have studied ${\beta}2m$ removal through an aggregation process, which was initiated by a ligand that could catch the ${\beta}2m$ monomer and promote its aggregation into fibril. As a ligand, we have prepared ${\beta}2m$ fibril fragments and used them as a seed. The seed was coupled to PEGylated-PS beads to remove the monomeric ${\beta}2m$ from solution. The ${\beta}2m$ seed-conjugated resin effectively adsorbed the ${\beta}2m$ monomers with a capacity of 3.6 mg/ml via promoting their aggregation into fibrils on the resin at pH 7.4.

• EDISON SW 활용 경진대회 논문집
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• 제3회(2014년)
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• pp.237-249
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• 2014

Deposition of amyloid-${\beta}$ ($A{\beta}$) proteins is the conventional pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The $A{\beta}$ protein formed from the amyloid precursor protein is predominated by the 40 residue protein ($A{\beta}40$) and by the 42 residue protein ($A{\beta}42$). While $A{\beta}40$ and $A{\beta}42$ differ in only two amino acid residues at the C-terminal end, $A{\beta}42$ is much more prone to aggregate and exhibits more neurotoxicity than $A{\beta}40$. Here, we investigate the molecular origin of the difference in the aggregation propensity of these two proteins by performing fully atomistic, explicit-water molecular dynamics simulations. Then, it is followed by the solvation thermodynamic analysis based on the integral-equation theory of liquids. We find that $A{\beta}42$ displays higher tendency to adopt ${\beta}$-sheet conformations than $A{\beta}40$, which would consequently facilitate the conversion to the ${\beta}$-sheet rich fibril structure. Furthermore, the solvation thermodynamic analysis on the simulated protein conformations indicates that $A{\beta}42$ is more hydrophobic than $A{\beta}40$, implying that the surrounding water imparts a larger thermodynamic driving force for the self-assembly of $A{\beta}42$. Taken together, our results provide structural and thermodynamic grounds on why $A{\beta}42$ is more aggregation-prone than $A{\beta}40$ in aqueous environments.

• EDISON SW 활용 경진대회 논문집
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• 제4회(2015년)
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• pp.14-23
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• 2015

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common types of degenerative dementia. As a considerable cause of Alzheimer's disease, neurotoxic plaques composed of 39 to 42 residue-long amyloid beta($A{\beta}$) fibrils have been found in the patient's brain in large quantity. A previous study found that erythrosine B (ER), a red color food dye approved by FDA, inhibits the formation of amyloid beta fibril structures. Here, in an attempt to elucidate the inhibition mechanism, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to demonstrate the conformational change of $A{\beta}40$ induced by 2 ERs in atomistic detail. During the simulation, the ERs bound to the surfaces of both N-terminus and C-terminus regions of $A{\beta}40$ rapidly. The observed stacking of the ERs and the aromatic side chains near the N-terminus region suggests a possible inhibition mechanism in which disturbing the inter-chain stacking of PHEs destabilizes beta-sheet enriched in amyloid beta fibrils. The bound ERs block water molecules and thereby help stabilizing alpha helical structure at the main chain of C-terminus and interrupt the formation of the salt-bridge ASP23-LYS28 at the same time. Our findings can help better understanding of the current and upcoming treatment studies for Alzheimer's disease by suggesting inhibition mechanism of ER on the conformational transition of $A{\beta}40$ at the molecular level.